That must have been one of the scariest things I've done in a long, long while; trying to surf in a storm much earlier today.
It wasn't too bad until a gust hit and I had to drop my sail after getting overpowered and losing my balance. After seeing a few bright streaks of lightning across the sky, hitting land was the only thought in my mind. And so, I tried hard to uphaul, frantically like some crazy woman, though it was one futile attempt too many.
With the wind beating so furiously on it, I soon realized that there was simply no chance getting my bloody heavy sail out of the water. With that, I stopped trying and looked up at the dark patch of clouds that was hovering closely above us. It was a massive patch of grey, or put more accurately, many great patches put together. In the not so far-off distances, I could see rain falling from the clouds where the cargo ships were, as well as Lagoon and even further upfront. They always look the same (i.e. observing rain from a distance), long wispy trails leaving clouds and bending back and forth at the mercy of the winds. The surface of the sea around looked at least 5 times rougher than usual as the storm made its way through it, and it was slightly more choppy than what I'm describing now.
Cold droplets pelting angrily against me, I stood as still as I could and looked at the turbulent scene in front of me. It was so dark and gloomy, and yet so beautiful. However insignificant it may have compared against other greater-known wonders, I was still in awe of yet this wonderful creation of mother nature.
As I stood admiring the scene, thoughts of getting struck by lightning creeped into my mind slowly. There're stories of sailors/surfers who were struck before, some of them ended up dead, others paralyzed. As a not-so-firm believer of karma, I started recalling all of the 'misdeeds' that I've thus far committed in my life, and tried to 'rationalize' if any of them was bad enough to warrant me death by a lightning strike.
Guess I just haven't been bad enough.
After waiting it out for a little while longer, the wind died a little and I managed to get my sail out of the water. Headed back to the nearest shore in the shortest possible time that I could manage and hauled my equipment back to the usual bay.
Phew to the scary experience.
Life is good.
It wasn't too bad until a gust hit and I had to drop my sail after getting overpowered and losing my balance. After seeing a few bright streaks of lightning across the sky, hitting land was the only thought in my mind. And so, I tried hard to uphaul, frantically like some crazy woman, though it was one futile attempt too many.
With the wind beating so furiously on it, I soon realized that there was simply no chance getting my bloody heavy sail out of the water. With that, I stopped trying and looked up at the dark patch of clouds that was hovering closely above us. It was a massive patch of grey, or put more accurately, many great patches put together. In the not so far-off distances, I could see rain falling from the clouds where the cargo ships were, as well as Lagoon and even further upfront. They always look the same (i.e. observing rain from a distance), long wispy trails leaving clouds and bending back and forth at the mercy of the winds. The surface of the sea around looked at least 5 times rougher than usual as the storm made its way through it, and it was slightly more choppy than what I'm describing now.
Cold droplets pelting angrily against me, I stood as still as I could and looked at the turbulent scene in front of me. It was so dark and gloomy, and yet so beautiful. However insignificant it may have compared against other greater-known wonders, I was still in awe of yet this wonderful creation of mother nature.
As I stood admiring the scene, thoughts of getting struck by lightning creeped into my mind slowly. There're stories of sailors/surfers who were struck before, some of them ended up dead, others paralyzed. As a not-so-firm believer of karma, I started recalling all of the 'misdeeds' that I've thus far committed in my life, and tried to 'rationalize' if any of them was bad enough to warrant me death by a lightning strike.
Guess I just haven't been bad enough.
After waiting it out for a little while longer, the wind died a little and I managed to get my sail out of the water. Headed back to the nearest shore in the shortest possible time that I could manage and hauled my equipment back to the usual bay.
Phew to the scary experience.
We had a second round of barbecue (with last night's leftovers) after everyone else had a fill of the storm. In the cold, it felt really nice to stand beside the charcoal pit. And of course, even nicer to sink my teeth into a piping hot wing.
Life is good.
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